Sermon Notes — October 27, 2024
October 27, 2024
But If Not
Dr. Craig Goff
Daniel 3:8-18
At a recent Emmaus event I was on a panel with other pastors to answer questions people had written down on index cards. It is part of the Emmaus weekend.
One of the questions reminded me of our text today. It was really simple, but a really good question. I remember it word for word. Someone had asked: “is there a wrong way to pray?”
We answered the best we could and hopefully what we said was helpful, but I wish we had known a little bit more about the question. I wish we had known why the person had asked the question.
Did the person ask the question because they were taught that there is a set formula you have to follow when you pray and that if you don’t follow that formula your prayers are not going to get answered? Was that why they asked the question?
Or was it because they wanted to know if it’s always important to seek God’s will when you pray? I don’t know. I do hope our answer helped them.
I have known people who say, when you pray you have to pray in faith, by which they mean you have to ask for exactly what you want and you have to believe that God is going to give you exactly what you have asked for, which is not the way I would interpret praying in faith, but it is what some people believe.
I had a friend who was a student at a Bible College out in Oklahoma. The school was founded by a famous prosperity preacher. I promise I am not making this up. One of the things he was taught at that school by a professor is that if you want a red corvette and someone offers to give you a green one, don’t take it. The reason you should not take it is because God knows the desires of your heart, and wants to give you the desires of your heart (which is an interesting way to interpret Psalm 37:4). But for some praying is about asking God what you want and then believing God will give you exactly what you have asked.
I just remember thinking, there is no way I could turn down a green corvette, even an old rusty green corvette, but apparently there are people who could, people who believe God wants to give you exactly what you want and that you have to ask for exactly what you want and believe that God is going to give it to you.
But that makes me wonder if those people have heard our text today from Daniel 3.
That is not what is going on in this text…..Let’s review….
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were three young Hebrew men who lived during the days of the Babylonian captivity. They were Hebrew captives. Their Hebrew names were actually Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. We know them best by their Chaldean or Babylonian names.
They were friends of Daniel, and like Daniel, they were servants of the God of Israel and they refused to worship or to bow down to Babylonian gods. Unfortunately, King Nebuchadnezzar, whom they served was all about everybody bowing to the gods of Babylon. When the king discovered they refused to do follow his order, he had them thrown into a blazing furnace used to punish those who would not bow down to the Babylon gods.
Nebuchadnezzar gave them a chance to reconsider their refusal by saying “If you don’t bow down, you will be thrown into the fire furnace and then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?”
Even though the king was very angry it is clear he really didn’t want to throw them into the fire. They were pretty good servants and they were pretty high up in the king’s court.
But notice what they tell the king –
They said, “We are not going to defend ourselves. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.
“God is able to save us, but even if he doesn’t we are not going to serve or worship your God.”
There is not any certainty there is there? God might save us, but if not we are not going to bow to a false god.
There are those who would say that is a wrong way to pray. You have to name what you want and then claim that God has done it, but that is not what is happening here in this text.
This is not “name it, claim it” theology. The faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is faith that says, “God’s way is always the better way. And we may not always know God’s way.” As it says in Isaiah “God’s ways are not our ways.”
The three friends of Daniel didn’t know if they would get what they wanted. They thought that they might suffer for being true to God, but they also decided they would rather die than to live a lie and bow down to what is not true.
If they knew beyond a doubt they were going to be spared pared when they were thrown into that furnace, their choice to stand up to the king would have been easy.
But they didn’t know. What they did know was that serving God is better than anything else in this world.
Let’s just think about that….they did know or at least believe that serving God is better than anything else in the world.
I’m glad I came to church this morning because sometimes I need to be reminded of that.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn’t know they would be spared but they did know they did not have to be like the Babylonians. They didn’t have to be like the king who said, “if you don’t do what I want you to do, you are going to die.” They didn’t have to be like that.
And that is why no matter what happened Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were the real winners.
We may not ever face being thrown into a burning furnace, but there will be times when we face situations and not know what God is going to do.
We get sick. Will God heal us? Maybe, but if not, we are going to keep believing in God.
Maybe we are at risk of losing our job. We pray that God will keep us from losing our job. What do we do if we still lose our job, or funding for school? Do we still remain true to God?
The theme of our current worship series is “Grace Wins.”
Grace doesn’t win because everything happens the way we want it to happen or predict that it will happen. Grace wins because there is just nothing better in this world than worshipping and serving the true God of love and mercy and grace.